This paper provides explicit and powerful tests of contingent claims approaches to modeling mortgage default. We investigate a model of "frictionless" default (i.e., one in which transactions costs, reputation costs and moving costs play no role) and analyze its implications--the relationship...

Public policy concerns increasingly have focused on subprime lending. Our research uses a survey of prime and subprime borrowers to address whether borrowers "inappropriately" are channeled to the subprime segment, if once having taken out a subprime mortgage borrowers are "stuck" in this market...